One thing, however, I know with certainty: violence, or the direct threat of violence, of the kind we have seen in the past few days, is totally unjustified as a response to any published word or image.
Timothy Garton AshRead
Developments in information technology and globalised media mean that the most powerful military in the history of the world can lose a war, not on the battlefield of dust and blood, but on the battlefield of world opinion.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Public perception can impact military outcomes more than physical battles.
This quote emphasizes the idea that in the modern age, the influence of information technology and global media shapes public opinion, which can outweigh traditional military strength. It suggests that how a war is perceived by the world can be just as crucial as the actual combat that takes place, highlighting the importance of communication and public relations in warfare.
Themes
MilitaryOpinionTechnologyWarMedia
In practice
Example use cases
In a debate on military strategy, one could quote this to highlight the role of media.
More from Timothy Garton Ash
All quotes →That said, the question remains: how to strike the balance between free speech and mutual respect in this mixed-up world, both blessed and cursed with instant communication? We should not fight fire with fire, threats with threats.
Timothy Garton AshRead
Similar quotes
In economics, the majority is always wrong.
John Kenneth GalbraithRead
The innocent and the beautiful have no enemy but time.
William Butler YeatsRead
A myth is a way of making sense in a senseless world. Myths are narrative patterns that give significance to our existence.
Rollo MayRead
I don't think you can hate anything that you know intimately. There is no fine line separating love from hate because there's a deep chasm separating love from hate.
Bell HooksRead
I hope we shall . . . crush in [its] birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations.
Thomas JeffersonRead
None but those who have learned the art of subjecting their senses as well as reason to hypothetical systems can be persuaded by the most specious rhetorician that the lots of life are equal; yet it cannot be denied that every one has his peculiar pleasures and vexations, that external accidents operate variously upon different minds, and that no man can exactly judge from his own sensations what another would feel in the same circumstances.
Samuel JohnsonRead